AusLeisure

Tickets for the Walt Disney Company's new Shanghai theme park are to be priced at about 20% cheaper than those at Hong Kong Disneyland, as the company aims to draw families across income levels to its first theme park in mainland China.

Daily regular tickets go on sale from 28th March and will be priced at 370 yuan (US$56), compared with HK$539 (US$69) for a one-day adult ticket to Hong Kong Disneyland, while those for children and the elderly will cost 280 yuan.

In statement, Disney announced that it would be introducing dynamic ticket pricing at the attraction with higher prices to be charged during peak periods such as weekends and public holidays.

The statement read “Shanghai Disneyland’s two-tiered pricing and date-specific tickets will allow the park to manage the extraordinary anticipated demand.”

The park, scheduled to open on 16th June will also limit the maximum number of guests that it admits to meet local capacity regulations, although it did not specify the allowed numbers.

Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger has called the China resort Disney’s greatest opportunity since Walt Disney himself bought land in Central Florida for his second attraction, Walt Disney World, in the 1960s. The company is counting on a pool of 330 million Chinese who live within a three-hour train or car trip of Shanghai to buy tickets.

Tickets will be priced at 499 yuan during the park’s two-week grand opening from 16th to 30th June.

Following that, the same price will apply to adult tickets during high-demand periods such as designated Chinese holidays and during summer holidays in July and August.

By contrast, Hong Kong Disneyland doesn’t charge peak period prices.

Similar to practices at its two other parks in Asia, Shanghai Disney’s discount for visitors aged 65 and older is a nod to ageing populations and extended family structures, which could see two sets of grandparents accompanying each child in the world’s most populous nation. Older people, and youngsters with height above 1 metre and up to 1.4 metre, will also get discounted peak period tickets.

In recently published analysis, Deutsche Bank AG analysts Tallan Zhou and Karen Tang suggested that Shanghai Diseny is expected to attract 25 million visitors annually, less than about 31 million who visit Tokyo Disney Resort annually because of the lack of the "novelty premium" as the park is the third one in Asia.

At 963 acres, the Shanghai resort is three times the size of Hong Kong Disneyland and the company has been allotted enough land in the Shanghai International Tourism and Resorts Zone to expand up to 2.5 times in the future.

It will open at a time when the world’s second-biggest economy is slowing, but Disney’s Iger said he’s still confident about betting on the Chinese consumer.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV in December, Iger stated “we’re very bullish on China.

"We actually believe that the Chinese consumer is still spending. And the Chinese consumer represents, as far as we’re concerned, a great market for our company."

The Shanghai park will be Disney’s sixth worldwide.

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